Bending the Score
by tein
Summary: LukeTear - To try anything to get these two thick-headed idiots together, what must be faced? Nothing at all. K, Two-Shot
1. Chapter 1

**Unimportant Author's Note of the Abyss**

Well it's really rare for me to write, but because someone got me hooked on the 'Tales of' Fandom I watched Tales of the Abyss [Anime]. Of course Tear would be my favorite (couldn't reists these beautiful...eyes *cough*. I'm gonna keep this AN short, mostly because it's really just unimportant stuff. This Two-Shot (it actually was supposed to be a One-Shot, but I lost my ideas within 7 hours of sleep after staying up til 5 a.m.) is dedicated to my dear Imouto, Honigkuchnpony - though, I call her Dia-chan - she is a huge LukeTear fan (and she likes zeroshii) so I just started to write. I might do another Short with Tear/Luke because I kinda got an idea after reading the available titles for Tear in the PS2 Game ('Proud Maid'...some cruel visions have flooded my mind..). So much for keeping it short.

R&R, I like Feedback and constructive criticism. Please point out any sort of mistake you might find, I'll correct it (I don't have a beta-reader, so mistakes might appear). On a further note, English is not my first language - German is.

PS: It might be even more shocking for me to write Hetero, cuz I'm a die-hard Yuri-Shipper (jep, I'd ship Tear with every female..)

* * *

It's been one year since Luke returned from the Abyss and life went back to normal – if you could call it that. At least he wasn't confined in the manor anymore, so he could do what he wanted. It was, of course, not in his intention to get talked into a get-together with his friends, but his dear mother insisted on inviting them over – with the maids gladly preparing everything. Now here he was, sitting under a tall tree to try and keep away from the blazing sun. The invitations were sent a few days ago, so it would only be a matter of time until everyone arrived. _Everyone. _That included the Replica of Ion, Florian, and Anise. Jade, Guy and Natalia, though the latter two he saw on a regular basis, seeing as Natalia found it very funny to annoy of Guy's persistent fear of women – at least he made improvements. Tear would surely come as well, Luke hoped - they had some sort of bond after all. But what if, Tear had some important business to attend to? Would she still come? Or would she leave a message that said she couldn't because of 'more important matters'?

Sighing, Luke leaned back into the tree, the wooden structure barely noticeable through his clothing. Deep in thought he didn't notice someone sneaking up on him.

"What are you sighing about, Luke?" Asked a familiar male voice. The red-head nearly jumped up and looked at the source of voice. "Guy!" He said happily and stood up, with the help of his friend.

"Nothing really..."

"About nothing? Does this 'nothing' include a certain Seventh Fonist?" Guy said with a smirk playing on his lips as he saw his best friends face turn a few shades darker – a prominent blush on the Duke's son. Guy laughed it off, Luke's embarrassed yell of denial was ignored and the blond man wondered how someone like Luke could be so thick-headed sometimes. Guy knew of the crush his friend had on the younger girl – it wasn't like Luke was good at hiding something like that – so it was a typical reaction to tease him about it.

Since Guy arrived remotely early, it was only a matter of time until the others arrived as well. Actually, scratch that, Luke could already hear familiar sarcastic remarks as he went to the great hall with Guy at his side.

Upon arrival he saw Jade, Anise, Florian and a somewhat annoyed Natalia standing there, talking and waiting at the same time. Just before the young Fon Fabre could even say anything that resembled a 'warm and hearty welcome' he was beat to it however as the blond princess pointed a glove-clad finger at him.

"How dare you make me wait! Don't you know who I am?" Though, the small but spreading smile did nothing but reduce the harsh comment as she hugged Luke and Guy, who was more than uncomfortable of the close proximity.

"He seems to be enjoying himself." Was heard from the sidelines – or rather behind them – as Jade fixed his glasses. Anise snickered slightly and looked at Guy, who pretty much hid behind Luke as Natalia let go of them.

Luke greeted each of them with a smile, but stopped short as he noticed that someone was still missing. "Tear's not with you?" Indeed the young woman was very much absent, much to his dismay.

"Missing your lover already?" came the sarcastic remark from Jade, though, without the ever present smile of his, the red-haired man didn't know if he should deny the 'lover' part or just ignore it for now.

Anise just shook her head at the Colonel and looked at Luke, "She said she needed to do something before meeting you. Didn't say much after that." So at least she was present. Sighing in relieve he shot Jade a glare, which did go by unnoticed and motioned for the group to follow him to the Dining hall.

Entering the large room with some bickering on Guy's and Anise's part, Luke didn't really think he would see Tear talking with his mother. Actually it seemed like casual chit-chat to him, because of the present smile on his mother's face.

Upon hearing the door closing, the young woman known as Tear Grants to her friends stood up to greet Luke (and Guy, of course). Apparently neither of them thought much ahead, now that they stood in front of each other. So it was very natural of Guy and Natalia to facepalm, for Anise to sigh loudly and for Jade to utter something about 'tension' – he refrained from using any sort of informal language in front of Florian and Lady Susanne Fon Fabre. Due to that the two individual Seventh Fonists did not do much but shake hands, and blush. Blush they did quite a lot. It made Lady Susanne laugh to see her son's embarrassed face without as much of a cause but Tear standing there.

Speaking of her, she wasn't quite sure what to do either – which was new, because being a soldier for such a long time just made you think about everything. It took a lot out of the blond princess behind them not to push Luke onto Tear, so they would at least hug instead of robotically shake hands. But because she was not as much as a princess as the young woman next to her, Anise decided to take matters into her own hands.

Silently creeping up behind Guy she glomped him, which caused him the jump forward and (un)expectantly shove Luke. The young red-head did, of course, not think something like that might happen and stumbled forward as well. The only thing different was the young woman in front of him. What Anise didn't count in on her scheme however was the training Tear had undergone in her earlier days. So the next thing Luke saw was the grey floor, instead of a very embarrassed brown-haired beauty that could have cushioned his fall. But said beauty avoided the 'danger' as she simply side-stepped Luke, much to Anise's chagrin. Tear managed to avoid the most basic cliché from happening. That was like bending…the Score! (1)

Luke sat up carefully rubbing his nose. Tear, after realizing what happened, bent down to him and looked at his minor injury. Quickly healing the now blushing young man was a rather funny sight, Jade decided, and found that no remark would have been fit for the situation. In the background Natalia and Anise secretly high-fived, they got something out of it, after all. And Guy, well, he had Florian to comfort him.

* * *

After dining and talking about past experiences – mostly on Jade's and Tear's part, because of their work as soldiers – the group decided to go out and through Baticul. Of course due to Anise's further scheming to get two certain people to admit their feelings for another it so happened that the group parted after a short time in the city. The young pig-tailed girl apparently looked for some books for Florian, Natalia decided to drag Guy with her for some shopping (she needed some advice after all, though, Guy wondered why she didn't want Tear with her, she was female after all) and Jade thought it was alright to go without even mentioning where to. This left Tear and Luke as a two-man group to roam the city of Baticul.

"This seems oddly set-up..." The brown-haired woman uttered under her breath. Luckily Luke didn't really notice that and looked around, as if to decide where he wanted to go. The red-head was interrupted by Tear shortly after as she took his arm and pulled him along, mostly to avoid the strange stares the both of them received.

"Let's go somewhere less crowded," she said and smiled slightly.

* * *

(1) Used as a metaphor, as the score offers more possibilities of events that might happen.

That was Part-One. Part two will follow soon.


	2. Chapter 2

So this is the second part of the Two-Shot of Luke x Tear love, grand schemes and sarcastic remarks. Actually it's more of the first two, because I usually tend to write less with characters I don't know well enough (hence why Florian did not have a line in the first part), anyway! This part is not only dedicated to Honigkuchnpony but to every reader as well, even those that don't comment.

On another note; I'd like to apologize for any mistake or grammatical error that you find and I'm sorry if any of the characters that appeared in this two-shot seem OOC – it was (not) my intention. Also; I do not think I'm very good at anything that is considered WAFF or FLUFF, so bear with me. I really can't do cute.

* * *

After reaching an area that was not pumped with nosy people, Tear let go of Luke rather fast – which was, of course, after she noticed just what she just did. Luke smiled slightly, ignoring the warmth that slowly dissipated after his friend – and love interest – let go of his arm. Instead he crossed them behind his back and looked up to the sky.

"What a nice day, don't you think, Tear?" Cue the small-talk about the weather.

The brown-haired woman looked at him, confusion written on her face. She didn't expect him to start talking so freely but couldn't hide the small smile that spread on her lips. After all this time of knowing him, Luke still surprised her.

"It is. Luke…" Tear started but was cut off by the man next to her. "I would like to tell you something."

Tear stopped in her tracks, having started to slowly walk through the streets it went by unnoticed by the few people present. But all she could utter was a confused "Huh?" before she was grabbed by the hand and pulled along said street by Luke. Apparently he didn't care if Tear wanted to hear what he had to say.

Now far away from the lovable couple that is yet to become one, four figures stood. Two of them rather unintentional, but neither Anise nor Natalia expressed any sort of actually caring for what they wanted, as long as they got what they wanted. And in this case, the two female members wanted two thick-headed individuals to get together – through any means possible. Fortunately Jade made a grand exit as he expressed his utmost concern for not caring what they wanted to do, if he got some peace and quiet it was enough for him. So here they were. Guy and Florian standing next to a pig-tailed girl and a blond princess, who were discussing the plans they made.

"We could lock them up in a room."

"Wouldn't work. Tear would go Judgment on the door."

"She'd hurt Luke and destroy the room they would be in. She wouldn't do something like that."

"What if Luke comments about her 'melons'? Still so sure, princess?"

"I'm certain she wouldn't do it even then."

"She could also just kick the door, or window, open. She's a soldier you know..."

"Be quiet Guy. We are discussing something important here." Outright shot down that poor guy. What a pun.

So yes, very important matters they had to discuss. Not the 'business' important, like what shoes to wear to a certain dress, but the sort of important that obviously had to bear fruits if they wanted to live. The blond man cursed silently, why couldn't he go with Jade? That man's humor might have seen better days, but then he wouldn't have to snoop in his best friend's love-life. Sighing he looked at Florian, who silently stood by and watched the events.

He was ripped out of his musing after a few minutes though, as Anise and Natalia stood directly in front of him – now he cursed the wall that blocked his escape route. "Guy find Luke and bring us to him!" Natalia demanded, pointing a finger at him.

"How would I know where to find him?" He inquired.

Anise crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Aren't you his best-friend for 10 years? You should know where to find him!" While that girl made a good point, Guy plainly shook his head as if sending out the message 'That doesn't answer the question' and sighted audibly as the two girls (well, technically one teenage girl and one young woman, but they both happened to act like matchmaking children) turned away from him and started to walk. Florian followed soon afterwards and Guy, not wanting to leave the poor replica alone with two lunatics, decided to follow as well.

And so the afternoon went by – even though, the time was never mentioned. Not at all.

Anise and Natalia thought of plans – which might or might not backfire – Guy and Florian obediently followed them, Jade made good progress of avoiding his fellow friends and whatever happened to Luke and Tear? We might never know.

Now in the grand garden of Fabre Manor, the small group of five – Jade apparently managed to get caught by Anise – stood in what seemed like shock in front of the two very people their minds were on (that did not include Jade however, he thought of all of them) this whole day. Then again it was not exactly that they saw them here, it was more in what sort of position they found them.

Leaning on each other by a tree, Luke's arm was lazily yet protectively wrapped around Tear's waist. Tear's head was resting her head on the red-head's right shoulder, tightly holding herself in place with her left arm. The man's head was resting on her head, while their free hands were laced together. All in all they looked comfortable and very couple-like to the very end.

Of course, being who he was, Jade coughed slightly, "Well, doesn't that look very uncomfortable?" No, not at all Jade. Their shock was short-timed as they heard the determined voice of one certain cheagle behind them.

"Please don't wake them up! Mieu promised to keep an eye on them!"

"Currently you are the one who is being loud." Jade remarked smartly, effectively making Mieu look embarrassedly to the side before setting himself atop Anise's head. The brown-haired pig-tailed girl however looked rather infuriated at the current display of affection.

"B-but what about my plans? I had so much in store, like locking them off in a cave. Sending them on a fake-mission in Keterburg, handcuff them together and have Guy swallow the key! This...this is…" Anise ranted, nearly pulling out her own hair but instead pulling on poor Mieu's ears. Of course, this ruckus had to wake up anyone in a 20 meter radius and such Tear was the first one to awake from her slumber.

Opening her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that she was still in Luke's arms – if you could call it that. The next thing she noticed was that they where no longer alone and with her training it wasn't very hard to miss the five figures behind/in front of them. Actually, even without her training, it wasn't very hard.

Quickly dispatching herself from the man she turned around with an embarrassed blush on her cheeks, quickly stumbling for words, all she got out was something that sounded like, "Wh-what are…ho-how long have you..." before she noticed that Luke woke up due to her fast movements.

Of course, before he could say or do anything Natalia and Anise were practically in his face.

"Since when! How? And for the love of why didn't you wait?" To say he didn't get half of what they said was an understatement. But thanks to Lady Susanne, who just now decided to make an entry, chuckled softly. "Why don't you calm down a little, I'm sure Luke will tell you everything afterwards."

Short thirty minutes later the group of nine found themselves in the grand dining room, sitting around the table. Of course, neither the princess nor the young puppeteer liked waiting, so they very nicely (not at all) demanded a whole fairy-tale like story.

**_FLASHBACK (or the Fairy-tale story that is not a fairy-tale story)_**

Tear was not sure if she was comfortable as she was pulled around by Luke. He seemed nervous and confident at the same time – that usually shouldn't be mixed together. It wasn't like she could change anything now, well technically she could, but she decided not to, because having his hand hold hers felt nice and warm.

It didn't take long for them to reach a deserted place – full with flowers and trees, really, you name it, it was there. With the sun still mercilessly blazing down the scenery seemed quite nice to look at, even if it was hot (or that was just the awkward tension that seemed to build itself up, as the two friends stood silently in the field).

"Tear. I don't know where to start-..I mean I do… but…ah you see it's about you and me… us and…" Poor Luke Fon Fabre stumbled with his words as he tried to form a sentence that did not end of embarrassing himself in front of the woman he liked… loved or whatevered. But it seemed like he failed, as Tear chuckled silently, a faint blush on her beautiful face. Her eyes were fixed on their intertwined hands, her mind making up the stuttering words into a sentence. She was pretty logical and smart after all.

Before Luke could continue to open and close his mouth (for the tenth time without words coming out) he was stopped by a white-gloved finger on his lips. He instantly blushed as Tear stepped closer to him.

"Are you done with the rambling now, Luke?" She asked with a smile that could melt ice. "If you are going to say, what I think you are going to say, then just say it without missing a word." Luke nodded and swallowed as the finger was removed.

"I think…I maybe like you very much." One wouldn't notice he was twenty-one, but then again he was ten, when he was born – would that make him a confused teenager or a young adult? Ah, that was confusing.

The brown-haired young woman couldn't help but smile, "That's good."

"That's all what you have to say? 'That's good'?" An agitated Luke responded.

"Would you expect anything else?" It was a good thing Luke wasn't so keen on catching on to the teasing town of Tear's voice.

"Well, yes. Something like 'I love you too' or 'I'm sorry I don't feel the same way' you know, something!" Luke could be so cute, Tear decided.

"Well I don't think I love you…" Tear started and looked away to avoid Luke's dejected face – a sad look in his eyes and an embarrassed smile on his lips.

"Ah tha-that's fine. I didn't expect yo-…"

"But I think I maybe like you very much too."

That stunned the red-head into complete and utter silence, but before Tear could react she was flung into a warm and protective hug. It definitely was warm, Tear decided, very much so. Though, that did not last long, as she was held at arm-length soon to follow.

"Does that mean that we are...to-together now?" The young man in front of her asked with new fire in his eyes. His slightly scrunched up face made his expression look rather strange, but to Tear it was adorable.

"Idiot…" She murmured, leaned in and pecked him lightly on the cheek. This movement made both of them blush instantly but chuckle together at the same time.

_**FLASHBACK END**_

"But wait, how did you end up in the garden?"

That, dear princess, you will never know.

* * *

And you, dear readers, will never know as well.


End file.
